Vim Essential Plugin: SnipMate

The SnipMate plugin aims to mimic the popular snippets feature in TextMate, which allows you to type a sequence of characters, and then automatically expand to a full block of code or html by pressing Tab. It's incredibly helpful.

Usage

Once installed, you only need to type the desired snippet trigger, and then press Tab. Keep in mind, though, that the available snippets are limited to the extension of the file you're working on. For example, JavaScript snippets will not work within an HTML file, and vice versa.

Try visiting your ~.vim/snippets directory for an overview of all the available shortcut keys. You can even create your own!

snippet mysnippet
<bla attr="${1:default}" />

If the above snippet is placed within the HTML.snippets file, you'll then be able to create a bla element by typing the shortcut, mysnippet.

Note: When creating new snippets, you'll need to either restart Vim, or open a new window before testing.